UE PDCCH monitoring capability reporting

ABSTRACT

A method for monitoring capability reporting. In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving, by a network, from a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring capability, the PDCCH monitoring capability including: a span pattern requirement specifying one or more restrictions on lengths and separations, and a minimum time separation requirement, the minimum time separation requirement specifying a minimum time separation between downlink control informations (DCIs). The method may further include generating, by the network, in response to the PDCCH monitoring capability, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/878,107; filed Jul. 24, 2019, entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL(PDCCH) MONITORING CAPABILITY SIGNALING INTERPRETATION”, the entirecontent of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

One or more aspects of embodiments according to the present disclosurerelate to 5G communications, and more particularly to the scheduling oftransmission of downlink control information (DCI) in a 5G connection.

BACKGROUND

In a 5G connection between a network and a user equipment (UE), the UEmay communicate to the network the UE's PDCCH monitoring capabilityunder feature group 3-5a or under feature group 3-5b, and the networkmay then send to the UE a scan pattern and one or more DCIs complyingwith the communicated capability. Such a configuration may result in afailure to achieve a level of performance of which the network and theUE are capable, and it may result in a failure to take full advantage ofthe capabilities of the UE.

Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method for UE PDCCHmonitoring capability reporting.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amethod, including: receiving, by a network, from a user equipment (UE),a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring capabilityreport, the PDCCH monitoring capability report including: a span patternrequirement specifying one or more restrictions on lengths andseparations, and a minimum time separation requirement, the minimum timeseparation requirement specifying a minimum time separation betweendownlink control informations (DCIs); and generating, by the network, inresponse to the PDCCH monitoring capability report, a first monitoringoccasion (MO) pattern.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern complyingwith the span pattern requirement, and sending, by the network, to theUE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by lessthan the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, a third DCI, and a fourth DCI separated from thethird DCI by at least the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from thefirst DCI by at least the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI, the method further including disabling, by the UE, DCI receptionduring a symbol immediately following the first DCI.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern complyingwith the span pattern requirement, and sending, by the network, to theUE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by atleast the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI, the method further including: sending, by the network, to the UE, anotification that the network will comply with the minimum timeseparation requirement; and disabling, by the UE, DCI reception during asymbol immediately following the first DCI.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amethod, including: receiving, by a network, from a first user equipment(UE), a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoringcapability report; and receiving, by the network, from a second UE, thefirst PDCCH monitoring capability report, the first PDCCH monitoringcapability report including: a span pattern requirement specifying oneor more restrictions on lengths and separations, and a minimum timeseparation requirement, the minimum time separation requirementspecifying a minimum time separation between downlink controlinformations (DCIs) generating, by the network, in response to the firstPDCCH monitoring capability report, a first monitoring occasion (MO)pattern.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO patterncomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated fromthe first DCI by less than the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the second UE, a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern,not complying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the second UE, a third DCI, and a fourth DCI separated fromthe third DCI by at least the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated fromthe first DCI by at least the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI, the method further including disabling, by the first UE, DCIreception during a symbol immediately following the first DCI.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, the first MO pattern, the first MO patterncomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the first UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated fromthe first DCI by at least the minimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI, the method further including: sending, by the network, to the firstUE, a notification that the network will comply with the minimum timeseparation requirement; and disabling, by the first UE, DCI receptionduring a symbol immediately following the first DCI.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided asystem, including: a network, including a first processing circuit; anda user equipment (UE), including a second processing circuit, the secondprocessing circuit being configured to report, to the network, aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring capability report,the PDCCH monitoring capability report including: a span patternrequirement specifying one or more restrictions on lengths andseparations, and a minimum time separation requirement, the minimum timeseparation requirement specifying a minimum time separation betweendownlink control informations (DCIs).

In some embodiments, the first processing circuit is configured to:send, to the UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, complyingwith the span pattern requirement, and send, to the UE, a first DCI, anda second DCI separated from the first DCI by less than the minimum timeseparation.

In some embodiments, the first processing circuit is further configuredto: send, to the UE, a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and send, to the UE, athird DCI, and a fourth DCI separated from the third DCI by at least theminimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the first processing circuit is further configuredto: send, to the UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and send, to the UE, afirst DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by at least theminimum time separation.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI, and wherein the second processing circuit is further configured todisable DCI reception during a symbol immediately following the firstDCI.

In some embodiments, the minimum time separation requirement specifiesan absence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with aDCI wherein: the first processing circuit is further configured to:send, to the UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, complyingwith the span pattern requirement, send, to the UE, a first DCI, and asecond DCI separated from the first DCI by at least the minimum timeseparation, and send, to the UE, a notification that the network willcomply with the minimum time separation requirement; and the secondprocessing circuit is further configured to disable DCI reception duringa symbol immediately following the first DCI.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure willbe appreciated and understood with reference to the specification,claims, and appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2A is a symbol sequence diagram, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2B is a symbol sequence diagram, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2C is a table of configuration options, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of asystem and method for UE PDCCH monitoring capability reporting providedin accordance with the present disclosure and is not intended torepresent the only forms in which the present disclosure may beconstructed or utilized. The description sets forth the features of thepresent disclosure in connection with the illustrated embodiments. It isto be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions andstructures may be accomplished by different embodiments that are alsointended to be encompassed within the scope of the disclosure. Asdenoted elsewhere herein, like element numbers are intended to indicatelike elements or features.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of two components of a 5Gcommunication system, in some embodiments. A user equipment (UE) 105forms a connection (e.g., a wireless connection) with a network 110(e.g., with a base station of the network 110). In a 5G communicationsystem, the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoringcapability of a user equipment (UE) may be signaled from the UE to thenetwork (e.g., to a base station (BS)) such that the network may thenemploy a downlink control information (DCI) monitoring configuration forthe UE that is within the capabilities of the UE. As used herein,certain phrases, such as “user equipment” and “downlink controlinformation” (discussed in further detail below) are used as countablenouns even though the nouns they contain (e.g., “equipment” and“information”) may not be countable in ordinary English. In theconventions of 5G, two UE capability feature groups, UE capabilityfeature group (FG) 3-5a and UE capability feature group 3-5b definepossible UE capabilities with respect to PDCCH monitoring.

Based on the component description of feature group FG 3-5b (in thetechnical specification identified as TS 38.822, published by the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project), the UE may report one of {(7,3)},{(4,3), (7,3)}, and {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)} as a candidate value set{(X,Y)}, and the PDCCH monitoring configuration generated by the networkis expected to comply with the reported span gap and span lengthlimitations. A span consists (as clarified in the RAN1 #96bis meeting ofthe 3rd Generation Partnership Project) of consecutive symbols within aslot and the span pattern within a slot is determined based on (i) aPDCCH monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, (ii) a set of one or moreordered pairs (X,Y) identified in a report (under feature group FG 3-5b)sent to the network by the UE, and (iii) the control resource set(CORESET) configuration for the user equipment (UE). In particular,spans within a slot have the same duration which is determined bymax{maximum value of all CORESET durations, minimum value of Y in the UEreported candidate value} except possibly the last span in a slot whichcan be of shorter duration. The first span in the span pattern within aslot begins at the symbol of the smallest index for which a monitoringoccasion is configured to the UE. The next span begins with an MO whichis not included in the first span and the same procedure is applied toconstruct the following spans. The separation (or “span gap”) betweenthe respective starts of any two consecutive spans within and acrossslots must satisfy the same (X,Y) limit, where X represents the minimumtime separation of OFDM symbols between the respective starts of twospans, and Y represents the maximum number of consecutive OFDM symbolsfor each span. A UE may (according to Release 15 of the 5G standard, forexample) report its monitoring capability from three possible sets:{(7,3)}, {(4,3), (7,3)}, {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)}.

There is another PDCCH monitoring capability, described in FG 3-5a,which constrains a symbol-based gap between two downlink (DL) unicastDCIs, between two uplink (UL) unicast DCIs, or between a DL and an ULunicast DCI in different monitoring occasions. As such, under FG 3-5a, aUE may (i) not report a capability, (ii) report that a “gap restriction”is needed, i.e., that to be processed by the UE, successive DCIs must beseparated by a certain minimum number of symbols (the required number ofsymbols depending on the subcarrier spacing (SCS) in the manner definedin TS 38.822), or (iii) report that no gap restriction is needed.

When a UE reports its PDCCH monitoring capability within FG 3-5a, thenetwork is expected, in transmitting DCIs to the UE, to follow thereported gap limitation. Similarly, when a UE reports its PDCCHmonitoring capability within FG 3-5b, the MOs pattern generated, andtransmitted to the UE, by the network is expected to follow the reportedspan restriction.

In some embodiments, the UE may both (i) report its capability within FG3-5a (reporting a minimum time separation, the minimum time separationrequirement specifying a minimum time separation (or “gap”) betweenDCIs), and (ii) report its capability within FG 3-5b (reporting a spanpattern requirement specifying one or more restrictions on lengths andseparations) and the network may elect to comply with one or the other,or both. As used herein, the reporting of a capability within FG 3-5a(whether the reported capability is (i) no “gap restriction”, i.e., nominimum time separation between DCIs is required, or (ii) a gaprestriction, i.e., the minimum time separation must be (a) 2OFDM symbolsfor 15 kHz (b) 4OFDM symbols for 30 kHz, (c) 7OFDM symbols for 60 kHzwith NCP, or (d) 11OFDM symbols for 120 kHz) is an example of reportinga minimum time separation requirement, the minimum time separationrequirement specifying a minimum time separation between downlink(DCIs). As used herein, the reporting of a capability within FG 3-5b isan example of reporting a span pattern requirement.

Dual reporting, i.e., the reporting, by a UE, of its capabilities bothunder FG 3-5a and under FG 3-5b, may result (i) in the network's havingincreased flexibility to schedule MOs and DCIs, (ii) in improvedperformance, and (iii) in better taking advantage of the capabilities ofthe UE, as the following examples (which assume that the UE reports acapability under FG 3-5b with {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)} and that the UEreports a capability under FG 3-5a with a DCI gap restriction)illustrate.

FIG. 2A shows a configuration in which the subcarrier spacing (SCS)=15kHz, frequency division duplex (FDD) is used, and CORESET duration is 3symbols. In this case, each span consists of 3 symbols and the span gapfor any two spans is at least 4 symbols. Furthermore, because the UEreported a gap restriction under FG 3-5a, the network is expected toallow a gap of at least 2 symbols between any two DCIs (2 symbols beingthe gap specified by TS 38.822 when the UE reports a gap restrictionunder FG 3-5a and the SCS is 15 kHz). Consequently, the MO configurationin FIG. 2A is valid in terms of the span restriction of FG 3-5b and theDCI transmission is valid in terms of the DCI gap restriction of FG3-5a. However, the DCI transmission violates FG 3-5b, which requiresthat each span can only contain one downlink (DL) DCI. In other words,if a UE only reports a PDCCH monitoring capability under FG 3-5b (andnot under FG 3-5a), the network will not be able to transmit the DCIsshown in FIG. 2A.

As another example, FIG. 2B shows a configuration in which SCS=30 kHz,frequency division duplex (FDD) is used, and the CORESET duration is 2symbols. In this case, each span consists of 2 symbols and the span gapfor any two spans is at least 2 symbols. Furthermore, because the UEreported a gap restriction under FG 3-5a, the network is expected toallow a gap of at least 4 symbols between any two DCIs (4 symbols beingthe gap specified by TS 38.822 when the UE reports a gap restrictionunder FG 3-5a and the SCS is 30 kHz). Consequently, the MO configurationin FIG. 2B is valid in terms of the span restriction of FG 3-5b and theDCI transmission is valid in terms of the number of DCIs within a spanbased on FG 3-5b. However, the DCI transmission violates FG 3-5a underwhich the network is expected to provide a gap of 4 symbols gap betweenany two DCIs. In other words, if a UE only reports a PDCCH monitoringcapability under FG 3-5a (and not under FG 3-5b), the network will notbe able to transmit the DCIs shown in FIG. 2B.

If the UE reports its capabilities under both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b, andif, as mentioned above, the network may elect to comply with one or theother, or both, then in each of the examples of FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, thenetwork is able to make an election making possible the transmissionshown. In the situation of FIG. 2A, the network may elect to comply withthe capability reported under 3-5a, making the transmission illustratedin FIG. 2A permissible, and in the situation of FIG. 2B, the network mayelect to comply with the capability reported under 3-5b, making thetransmission illustrated in FIG. 2B permissible. The table FIG. 2Csummarizes these observations. As shown in this table, thesingle-reporting circumstances described above for FIG. 2A (reportingonly under 3-5b) and FIG. 2B (reporting only under 3-5a) do not resultin the respective illustrated transmissions being permissible, whereasdual reporting (of the UE's PDCCH monitoring capability, under both 3-5aand 3-5b) results in both of the transmissions illustrated in FIG. 2Aand FIG. 2B being permissible.

In a system implementing (dual) reporting of PDCCH monitoringcapabilities under both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b, it may be the case that ona first occasion on which a UE connects to a network and reports itscapabilities under both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b, the network elects tocomply with the span pattern requirement (of FG 3-5b) and not to complywith the minimum time separation requirement (of FG 3-5a), and it maysend to the UE (i) a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, complyingwith the span pattern requirement, and (ii) two DCIs separated by lessthan the minimum time separation. It may then occur that on a secondoccasion on which the UE connects to the network, the network elects notto comply with the span pattern requirement (of FG 3-5b) and to complywith the minimum time separation requirement (of FG 3-5a), and it maysend to the UE a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, not complyingwith the span pattern requirement.

Similarly, it may be the case that when a first UE connects to a networkand reports its capabilities under both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b, the networkelects to comply with the span pattern requirement (of FG 3-5b) and notto comply with the minimum time separation requirement (of FG 3-5a), andwhen a second UE connects to the network and reports the same PDCCHmonitoring capabilities as those that were reported by the first UE, thenetwork elects, in its interactions with the second UE, not to complywith the span pattern requirement (of FG 3-5b) and to comply with theminimum time separation requirement (of FG 3-5a).

When a UE reports its PDCCH monitoring capabilities under both FG 3-5aand FG 3-5b, it may be advantageous for the UE to infer, from thebehavior of the network, whether the network has elected to comply withthe capability reported under FG 3-5a or with the capability reportedunder FG 3-5b. This may make it possible (e.g., if the reportedcapability under FG 3-5a is a gap restriction that specifies an absenceof a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with a DCI) for theUE to rule out certain symbols (e.g., any symbol immediately following asymbol with a DCI) as potentially containing a DCI, and the UE maydisable DCI reception during those symbols, e.g., to save power.

As shown in FIG. 3, the UE reports its PDCCH monitoring capabilitiesunder both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b at 305, and receives a PDCCH monitoringconfiguration from the network at 310. At 315, the UE determines whetherthe PDCCH monitoring configuration complies with the capability that theUE reported under FG 3-5b; if it does not, then the UE infers that thenetwork has elected to comply with the PDCCH monitoring capabilitiesreported by the UE under 3-5a, and it detects DCIs accordingly, at 320.This may involve disabling DCI reception immediately after a DCI isreceived, if the PDCCH monitoring capability the UE reported under FG3-5a was a gap restriction.

If, at 315, the UE determines that the PDCCH monitoring configurationcomplies with the capability that the UE reported under FG 3-5b, thenthe UE may be unable to determine, based on the PDCCH monitoringconfiguration received from the network, whether (i) the network haselected to comply only with the capability that the UE reported under FG3-5b or (ii) the network has elected to comply with the capabilitiesunder both FG 3-5a and FG 3-5b. If, however, the network sends, and (at325) the UE receives, an election notification, notifying the UE whichcapability or capabilities the network has elected to comply with, thenthe UE may monitor DCIs accordingly, at 330 or 335. This electionnotification may be explicit, e.g., a specific signal sent by thenetwork to the UE, or it may be implicit, e.g., another configurationsetting used by the network, from which the UE is able to infer theelection made by the network.

In some embodiments, the network includes a first processing circuit(e.g., one or more CPUs), and the UE contains a processing circuit. Theprocessing circuits may perform the some or all of the methods describedherein, e.g., sending and receiving (through suitable transmitting andreceiving hardware, such as radio, microwave, or mm-wave transmittersand receivers) some of which may be external to the processing circuits)configuration information, capability information, and DCIs. The term“processing circuit” is used herein to mean any combination of hardware,firmware, and software, employed to process data or digital signals.Processing circuit hardware may include, for example, applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), general purpose or special purposecentral processing units (CPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs),graphics processing units (GPUs), and programmable logic devices such asfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In a processing circuit, as usedherein, each function is performed either by hardware configured, i.e.,hard-wired, to perform that function, or by more general-purposehardware, such as a CPU, configured to execute instructions stored in anon-transitory storage medium. A processing circuit may be fabricated ona single printed circuit board (PCB) or distributed over severalinterconnected PCBs. A processing circuit may contain other processingcircuits; for example, a processing circuit may include two processingcircuits, an FPGA and a CPU, interconnected on a PCB.

As used herein, “a portion of” something means “at least some of” thething, and as such may mean less than all of, or all of, the thing. Assuch, “a portion of” a thing includes the entire thing as a specialcase, i.e., the entire thing is an example of a portion of the thing. Asused herein, the word “or” is inclusive, so that, for example, “A or B”means any one of (i) A, (ii) B, and (iii) A and B.

As used herein, when a method (e.g., an adjustment) or a first quantity(e.g., a first variable) is referred to as being “based on” a secondquantity (e.g., a second variable) it means that the second quantity isan input to the method or influences the first quantity, e.g., thesecond quantity may be an input (e.g., the only input, or one of severalinputs) to a function that calculates the first quantity, or the firstquantity may be equal to the second quantity, or the first quantity maybe the same as (e.g., stored at the same location or locations inmemory) as the second quantity.

It will be understood that, although the terms “first”, “second”,“third”, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements,components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms.These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region,layer or section from another element, component, region, layer orsection. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or sectiondiscussed herein could be termed a second element, component, region,layer or section, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinventive concept.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventiveconcept. As used herein, the terms “substantially,” “about,” and similarterms are used as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, andare intended to account for the inherent deviations in measured orcalculated values that would be recognized by those of ordinary skill inthe art.

As used herein, the singular forms “a” and “an” are intended to includethe plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding alist of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modifythe individual elements of the list. Further, the use of “may” whendescribing embodiments of the inventive concept refers to “one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure”. Also, the term “exemplary” isintended to refer to an example or illustration. As used herein, theterms “use,” “using,” and “used” may be considered synonymous with theterms “utilize,” “utilizing,” and “utilized,” respectively.

It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to asbeing “on”, “connected to”, “coupled to”, or “adjacent to” anotherelement or layer, it may be directly on, connected to, coupled to, oradjacent to the other element or layer, or one or more interveningelements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element or layeris referred to as being “directly on”, “directly connected to”,“directly coupled to”, or “immediately adjacent to” another element orlayer, there are no intervening elements or layers present.

Any numerical range recited herein is intended to include all sub-rangesof the same numerical precision subsumed within the recited range. Forexample, a range of “1.0 to 10.0” or “between 1.0 and 10.0” is intendedto include all subranges between (and including) the recited minimumvalue of 1.0 and the recited maximum value of 10.0, that is, having aminimum value equal to or greater than 1.0 and a maximum value equal toor less than 10.0, such as, for example, 2.4 to 7.6. Any maximumnumerical limitation recited herein is intended to include all lowernumerical limitations subsumed therein and any minimum numericallimitation recited in this specification is intended to include allhigher numerical limitations subsumed therein.

Although exemplary embodiments of a system and method for UE PDCCHmonitoring capability reporting have been specifically described andillustrated herein, many modifications and variations will be apparentto those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is to be understood that asystem and method for UE PDCCH monitoring capability reportingconstructed according to principles of this disclosure may be embodiedother than as specifically described herein. The invention is alsodefined in the following claims, and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a network,from a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring capability report, the PDCCH monitoring capability reportincluding: a span pattern requirement specifying one or morerestrictions on lengths and separations, and a minimum time separationrequirement, the minimum time separation requirement specifying aminimum time separation between downlink control informations (DCIs);and generating, by the network, in response to the PDCCH monitoringcapability report, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the network, to theUE, the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern complying with the spanpattern requirement, and sending, by the network, to the UE, a firstDCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by less than theminimum time separation.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:sending, by the network, to the UE, a second monitoring occasion (MO)pattern, not complying with the span pattern requirement, and sending,by the network, to the UE, a third DCI, and a fourth DCI separated fromthe third DCI by at least the minimum time separation.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: sending, by the network, to the UE, thefirst MO pattern, the first MO pattern not complying with the spanpattern requirement, and sending, by the network, to the UE, a firstDCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by at least theminimum time separation.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the minimumtime separation requirement specifies an absence of a DCI in a symbolimmediately following a symbol with a DCI, the method further comprisingdisabling, by the UE, DCI reception during a symbol immediatelyfollowing the first DCI.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:sending, by the network, to the UE, the first MO pattern, the first MOpattern complying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from thefirst DCI by at least the minimum time separation.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the minimum time separation requirement specifies anabsence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with a DCI,the method further comprising: sending, by the network, to the UE, anotification that the network will comply with the minimum timeseparation requirement; and disabling, by the UE, DCI reception during asymbol immediately following the first DCI.
 8. A method, comprising:receiving, by a network, from a first user equipment (UE), a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring capability report; andreceiving, by the network, from a second UE, the PDCCH monitoringcapability report, the PDCCH monitoring capability report including: aspan pattern requirement specifying one or more restrictions on lengthsand separations, and a minimum time separation requirement, the minimumtime separation requirement specifying a minimum time separation betweendownlink control informations (DCIs) generating, by the network, inresponse to the PDCCH monitoring capability report, a first monitoringoccasion (MO) pattern.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:sending, by the network, to the first UE, the first MO pattern, thefirst MO pattern complying with the span pattern requirement, andsending, by the network, to the first UE, a first DCI, and a second DCIseparated from the first DCI by less than the minimum time separation.10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: sending, by the network,to the second UE, a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, notcomplying with the span pattern requirement, and sending, by thenetwork, to the second UE, a third DCI, and a fourth DCI separated fromthe third DCI by at least the minimum time separation.
 11. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: sending, by the network, to the first UE,the first MO pattern, the first MO pattern not complying with the spanpattern requirement, and sending, by the network, to the first UE, afirst DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by at least theminimum time separation.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the minimumtime separation requirement specifies an absence of a DCI in a symbolimmediately following a symbol with a DCI, the method further comprisingdisabling, by the first UE, DCI reception during a symbol immediatelyfollowing the first DCI.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:sending, by the network, to the first UE, the first MO pattern, thefirst MO pattern complying with the span pattern requirement, andsending, by the network, to the first UE, a first DCI, and a second DCIseparated from the first DCI by at least the minimum time separation.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the minimum time separationrequirement specifies an absence of a DCI in a symbol immediatelyfollowing a symbol with a DCI, the method further comprising: sending,by the network, to the first UE, a notification that the network willcomply with the minimum time separation requirement; and disabling, bythe first UE, DCI reception during a symbol immediately following thefirst DCI.
 15. A system, comprising: a network, comprising a firstprocessing circuit; and a user equipment (UE), comprising a secondprocessing circuit, the second processing circuit being configured toreport, to the network, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring capability report, the PDCCH monitoring capability reportincluding: a span pattern requirement specifying one or morerestrictions on lengths and separations, and a minimum time separationrequirement, the minimum time separation requirement specifying aminimum time separation between downlink control informations (DCIs).16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first processing circuit isconfigured to: send, to the UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO)pattern, complying with the span pattern requirement, and send, to theUE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by lessthan the minimum time separation.
 17. The system of claim 16, whereinthe first processing circuit is further configured to: send, to the UE,a second monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, not complying with the spanpattern requirement, and send, to the UE, a third DCI, and a fourth DCIseparated from the third DCI by at least the minimum time separation.18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first processing circuit isfurther configured to: send, to the UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO)pattern, not complying with the span pattern requirement, and send, tothe UE, a first DCI, and a second DCI separated from the first DCI by atleast the minimum time separation.
 19. The system of claim 18, whereinthe minimum time separation requirement specifies an absence of a DCI ina symbol immediately following a symbol with a DCI, and wherein thesecond processing circuit is further configured to disable DCI receptionduring a symbol immediately following the first DCI.
 20. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the minimum time separation requirement specifies anabsence of a DCI in a symbol immediately following a symbol with a DCIwherein: the first processing circuit is further configured to: send, tothe UE, a first monitoring occasion (MO) pattern, complying with thespan pattern requirement, send, to the UE, a first DCI, and a second DCIseparated from the first DCI by at least the minimum time separation,and send, to the UE, a notification that the network will comply withthe minimum time separation requirement; and the second processingcircuit is further configured to disable DCI reception during a symbolimmediately following the first DCI.